Billionaire Rinehart Buys Cattle Station in Australia's North
Billionaire Gina Rinehart has bought a cattle station in Australia’s Northern Territory, expanding her footprint in the agricultural sector.
The Aroona cattle ranch, located around 100 kilometers (62 miles) west of Katherine, covers an area of 147,510 hectares and holds about 15,000 cattle, Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting Pty, said in an emailed statement Monday. The deal price wasn’t disclosed.
The purchase comes three months after Rinehart was cleared by the Australian government to buy the iconic cattle company S. Kidman & Co. Australia had blocked the sale of the 118-year-old company in 2015 to China’s Shanghai Pengxin Group on national security grounds.
The Aroona property will “help to provide better market timing options for some of Hancock Beef’s Kimberley cattle stations," Rinehart said in the statement. "It will well complement our existing investments in the north."
Rinehart is the richest woman in the Asia-Pacific region and has a net worth of $12.8 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
The Australian Financial Review earlier reported that Rinehart bought the property for A$13.5 million ($10.2 million).
